Following the Logic of Feelings

Some of my thinking lately has reminded me of this article that I wrote in the late 1980s about rediscovering the power and need to be emotionally alive. This article was part of a column that I wrote called “The Editor’s Wild Hair” for a little print newsletter that I inflicted upon friends and family called, “Air, Dirt & Ink.” [Sigh], the good ol’ days.

Journal Classic: Following the Logic of Feelings

Heart, why are you pounding like a hammer?
Heart, why are you beating like a drum?
Heart, why do you make such a commotion
when I’m waiting for my baby to come?
Oh heart, don’t do it if it’s not the real thing
Heart, I get so easily deceived
Heart, there is no other I can turn to
if not you, heart, then who can I believe?”
“Heart” by Nick Lowe

I vividly remember when it first happened. It was in the seventh grade when I walked up to Mary Hinck and said, “Hi,” and she said rather unfeelingly, “Oh, it’s you.” It’s like I didn’t even really know that it was there until it came crashing to the ground in front of God and everyone. Jesus, I thought, if this is what love feels like, I don’t want any part of it.

I didn’t mean that, of course, and have spent the intervening 17 years demonstrating it to no one in particular. But something very definitely changed after that first brush with emotional death.

Back at home, though I never once for a moment doubted my parent’s love for me or my siblings; emotions, especially anger, seemed to be like Steven Spielbergian pyrotechnics. Like the much-feared nuclear holocaust, there would be a blinding flash of emotional light: my father would explode over some such reality of living with five children. My mother would then deploy her tactical arsenal. Another flash, then children running in every direction, vainly hoping to avoid becoming part of the scorched landscape. Then just as quickly as it had begun, it would be over. Father would be about his business and mother would continue hers. It all seemed to my childish mind to be quite unnecessary.

So it only seems right that at one point in my life I hung around with a religious group that held to the philosophy that “feelings” could not be trusted. “Feelings, they come and go, but objective truth, now there’s the ticket.” Of course the objective truth that was being referred to here was the Bible, the Scoffield Reference Bible in the King James Version to be more specific. And Love, well that had something to do with some Greek word and God and Jesus dying and . . . (all of which of course made no sense whatsoever to my teenage mind, but who was I to scoff at the insights of my elders?).

I don’t know why I always seem to use this column to take pot‑shots at Evangelical Christianity (no doubt an unconscious attempt to pay them back for the emotional trauma and near fatal brain damage I experienced while getting my Bachelor of Arts degree in Biblical Studies). In fact, before this starts sounding too much like “Sex and the Single Brain Cell,” I have to question the wisdom of attempting an article that would argue following the logic of emotions. I mean, either you understand it or you don’t.

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Form Factor: 8×11

Nope, this isn’t about grading assignments while drinking beer, though that practice clearly deserves a blog entry/study of it’s own. This one is about a unexpected discovery I made last Sunday when I needed to get away from my domicile and plant myself at a local pub to watch a day of NFL goodness. Of course having 10-page student papers to grade wasn’t going to stop me. Now, because access to a power-outlet was in doubt and previously the wifi was iffy at best, I took the unusual precaution of actually printing out all of the assignments and choose to read through and make notes on these pages before uploading the comments onto my laptop. I’m pretty fanatical about NOT printing out things, so I can’t remember the last I graded something in the dead-tree version. But I have to tell you that it was remarkably convenient to quickly flip through the pages, mark them up and then move on. And from the perspective of my small table in the bar, it was a lot less conspicuous and I wasn’t looking over a screen to see the TV(s). Weird. It was just amazingly natural to work in an 8×11 form factor.

How much more efficient would it have been if I had some device, roughly 8×11, where I could have marked up the documents (in their native electronic form), that could run all day on a single charge and had access to the Internet even when there’s no nearby wifi. Hmm. No, I guess I could make the notes on the text with my finger, but a stylus works too. I doubt it’ll have a stylus, but I have to wonder if Apple’s upcoming announcement next Wednesday will include the announcement of a device that fulfills this content creation need. The announcement better not be just a rev of the iLife suite. Ack.

Sources:
image by Joe Bustillos

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freedom to screw up required if one wants perfection: emdt students reflect on blogging

An open letter to my emdt co-workers, co-conspirators & creativity enablers,

On one level or another I’ve been teaching communication and writing since I took my first teaching assignment 15-years ago. One thing that I learned right away was that it seemed to be a big function of the education system to take the eagerness of our little learners to share their every creation and over time crush it down to nothing, such that every fourth grader knows that no one wants hear what they have to say and even less what they think. The smart ones, in this system, are the ones who learn to speak and write in the language of their teachers, and that it’s critically important to not make any mistakes in spelling or grammar. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the ones who might suffer the most from this fear of writing are the ones who are part of the system that enforces this approach to writing, our masters students. But what they may not know, which I learned from my second-language 6th graders, is that they’ll never get any better at writing without working at it on an ongoing basis and that requires that I release them from the system that says that they can only write about things that the teacher cares about and only in the style set by the teacher. You have to work against a lifetime of “correction” and just get them to write before you can help them to write “better.”

As we begin to make blogging a bigger part of our process, please consider the learning process and that putting thoughts down in writing for others to read takes something more than can be expressed in a check-list (though a check-list can be very helpful in the beginning). What prompted this concern is the following exchange between two of my current students about having to do a blog in my course:

edm613 student blog entry:
“I must admit, I disliked blogging in the last class in which it was a requirement. I am really not sure why- I like to write- but it just never gelled for me. I did, however, revisit the idea of blogging after losing my job at the end of the last school year. I thought I would chronicle the ups and downs of my lack of job, talk about the new and exciting things I would encounter and boast about my new accomplishments. I would fill the pages with salsa lessons, daily musings and funny anecdotes. I think I actually managed to write a paragraph once or twice and it consisted of me complaining and moaning about emotional drudgery. I have a difficult enough time sounding interesting in one line on Twitter- I couldn’t possibly blog about my life- or lack there of.

“So here we go again.

“I decided not to re-purpose my last blog but start a new one. It will be chock full of fresh and new ideas, brilliant insight and astute observations. Words will flow from my mind, through my fingers and dance onto the page. I will be clever and captivating. What does this have to do with anything in class? Nothing, but every blog has to start somewhere. Welcome.”

Second students comment:
“I agree with you about blogging in our last class. The requirements were very limiting and seemed to hold me back. The blog became a chore and I dreaded each and every post for fear that I wouldn’t get a good grade or I would make some simple mistake and have to redo everything. I am very excited to get to share with everyone and express my thoughts more freely again. I like that you have brought a great sense of positivity into your new blog. I like your new point of view…you think you can assist me in bringing back my light?”

Standards of excellence and creativity will never be found where one doesn’t have the freedom to make a thousand mistakes first. I should know. jbb

Sources:
image: keyboard – clipart.com/jupiter graphics
thanks to jolene t. & joann s. for your thoughts and comments on blogging and giving it “one more try.”

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The Alternative WP apps

I was listening to an excellent interview of one of the creators of Scrivener, a word processing app, by Your Mac Life’s Shawn King and became very enthusiastic about using a word processing app that’s specifically designed for longer text like a thesis, dissertation or novel. I’ve been looking for the word processing promised land since I first started working with micro computers in the early 80s. Most, if not all, early word processing apps were designed for office memos and have pretty much struck to that model, at least that was my experience beginning with Word Star to Word Perfect to MS Word. When I switched to the mac full-time I was delighted to find that there were some creative outline/notetaking apps that really addressed my need to design and compose longer threads of creativity. I eventually settled on Notebook from Circus Ponies. I used it to design my media course for Full Sail and couldn’t imagine managing the continuous flow of course changes and updates without it. I laugh when I think that I used to use sticky-notes for information that didn’t fit into full blown documents. Yikes. Notebook is so much better than using just a file and folder cluttered desktop system and I’ve made at least one convert of the EMDT staff. Anyway, after listening to Keith Blount from Scrivener I became curious if anyone else has gone on a similar journey, looking for the perfect WP app. Shawn King’s interview follows immediate. After listening to the interview please take the poll listed below and share your thoughts on alternative WP apps.

Shawn King, Your Mac Life, Interviews Keith Blount from Scrivener, July 22, 2009

Sources:
Image: Apple III Keyboard Refinements by Ballistik Coffee Boy, http://www.flickr.com/photos/spaceageboy/3131550267/ retrieved 8/01/2009 – (cc)(by:) 2008

mp3: Shawn King, Your Mac Life, Interviews Keith Blount from Scrivener, July 22, 2009, http://www.yourmaclifeshow.com/archives/2009/07/22/apple-earnings-pan-mass-challenge-and-scrivener retrieved 8/01/2009

APP Highlight:
Scrivener by Literature & Latte

Notebook by Circus Ponies

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Why Should We Let You Into Our Doctorate Club?

Last time I talked to Dr. Sparks (“Sparky”) we were enjoying a late night dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill following a week roaming the streets of DC and the halls of power with my Pepperdine cadremates. He wasn’t completely satisfied with my consultancy project and charged me with the assignment to get a better grasp on what I really wanted to do with my doctorate degree. Of course he had no idea that seven days later I would get kicked out of the program for failing to get a B or better grade in a different class (see Sound of Doors Closing). So the question shifted from what I wanted to get out of getting a doctorate with Pepperdine to what justification do I have for taking up this costly battle again at some other institution. What are my intentions?

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More a Tap on the Shoulder & Smile Than a Deep Hug

Recently one of my students confessed: I’m really not a twitter fan, I get frustrated to see what people are posting and not being able to comment back. I’m trying to figure out what app I can get on my iPhone that will double post to twitter and facebook. I prefer facebook because I can make comments back. Regardless of my preference, I can’t deny the cultural impact of twitter. (Alice K.)

My response: I’ve been on Twitter for over two years and I can tell you that it has changed modes of communication. I called my sister in Long Beach to ask her about an earthquake that had struck online minutes before because someone had twittered it. It was hours before CNN mentioned the quake. The MJ story this past week came up in the feed long before it came up and then overwhelm TV & CNN. It’s not meant for deep dialogues, but you’d be surprised at the creativity and spirit that can be communicated in 140 characters. As with blogging, YouTube and podcasting before it, the mass media is going to miss the depth of human spirit being shared and focus on the jackass-esque, celebity stalking and then move on to the next shiny object. Nothing can replace a deep hug, but Twitter is more like a tap on the shoulder and a big smile from a friend.

Following is a video of Clay Shirkey at TED that my student included in her blog post:
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How to Write for the Web – JBB on FSO

Hey, guess who showed up in another FSO article about blogging?

How to Write for the Web

by Ashley Belanger for Full Sail Online

Learn how your writing benefits from brevity.

The phrase “the shorter, the better” can be applied to many things. Generally speaking, action movies, acceptance speeches and grace before a really delicious dinner all benefit from brevity, but one of the absolute crucial applications of this phrase has been toward Web writing. Wordiness on the Web is more than just frowned upon; it’s a cardinal sin.

But why? Well, because whatever it is that you’re about to expound upon has already been explained by someone else, and chances are, they did it better and they used cooler images to illustrate their point. That was meant to be a joke, but seriously, one of the keys to Web writing is in understanding the value of a well-placed link (like this one.) that supports your statements for those who don’t already know the subject.

It’s dangerous to concern yourself too much with length without also acknowledging that the reason most writers (and readers) want you to be brief is so that you get to the point fast. Don’t dilute your message with too much language or back-story.

One of the easiest ways to highlight your point is by artfully formatting your writing to best display the message’s main objective. You can do this with a pull quote, but that’s not the only way. In this article, all of the key points have been bolded. You can also use bullets, numbers or sidebars to allow the most casual readers to immediately scroll down to the important stuff. The important thing is that you use formatting effectively to guide the reader.
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Crap, Time to Redesign de’ Blog

Crap. After listening to Leo and gang talk in net@night 101 about landing pages, fresh “what i’m doing” widgets and the virtues of a new website system called Square Space, I realized that they were right and I needed to do something to beat back the barrage of words on the front page of my blog.

Last year I’d switched from three separate blogs to a single “magazine” themed blog with multiple categories/embedded blogs (love the Revolution Media-Pro theme by Brian Gardner). But, much like the problems mentioned by Sarah Lane, I found that because I wasn’t writing for all of the categories consistently that there were sections that grew more stale and what I was working on only pointed out the sections that were more neglected (I’m talking about you “sex & the single brain cell”!). So I went back to Gardner’s new theme operation, Studio Press, to upgrade the visual look. At the same time, I started looking at re-organizing certain sections so that what appears on the front page is more flexible to highlight what I’m working on without forcing me to write articles just to keep some sections from looking old. I also need to continue working on making it so that there’s a little different feel for the different sub-blog/category pages. Onward and upward.

Music: C’mon C’mon from the “C’mon C’mon“ CD by Sheryl Crow

Source:
history of my blogging by Hugh MacLeod of gapingvoid.com retrieved on 6/6/2009

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Just Say “NO!” To Landing Pages!

Do you remember the static Welcome pages that were popular in the early days of the web. Just a smiling face and the word “Welcome” in giant type. Then you had to click somewhere to get to where you wanted to go on the site. Fortunately Welcome pages went away, along with frames and irritating animated GIFs. Then during a recent episode of net@night (101), Amber MacArthur, Sarah Lane and Leo Laporte, commented on how adding streaming elements to a “Landing” page might help keep their blogs feel more fresh in spite of long stretches between written blog entries. Nooooooooooooo! Then I started looking at some of the more “successful” sites on the web. Damn.

Damn.

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Intellectualism and conservative religion

Is there a fundamental conflict for someone to be an intellectual and a believer in conservative religion? The recent Bill Maher film, Religulous, would have one believe that most people surrender their minds when they surrender their hearts to religion.

Having attended four private Christian universities my impression has been that there are very smart people on both side of the discussion. In fact, in the movie, Maher expressed frustration when addressing the “Truckers for Jesus” gathering that they appear to be intelligent gentlemen, but he couldn’t reconcile that with how they could believe in a literal talking snake from the Expulsion from Eden narrative in the book of Genesis. Looking for a different take on this possible conflict between rationalism and religion, I explored a book titled, “Did The Greeks Believe In Their Myths,” by Paul Veyne (1988), professor of Roman history at the University of France.

When I began this exploration I assumed a basic Western point of view, being that before the Renaissance and the following Age of Reason and Science, that the centers for learning, philosophy, government and culture were interpreted through religion and faith. Given this general understanding one might also be led to assume that the Ancients were somehow less intelligent than modern men. Stone and bronze tools versus lasers and computer-precision tools, astrology versus astrophysics, mythology versus historical critical analysis, one might see some credence to this sense of “less intelligent.” Of course all of this comes crashing down when one considers the surviving record left behind by Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Galen the physician and the obvious brilliance of the whole chorus of ancient voices. So how did these brilliant thinkers deal with the religion and mythology of their day? For some reason the lyrics, “Same as it ever was” runs through my mind. Same as it ever was indeed, but Veyne would point out some noted exceptions.

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